WASHINGTON – Both houses of Congress passed a bill to restore 11,000 acres of land that the government stole from the Leech Lake Reservation, some as recently as the 1940s and 1950s. Congress member Betty McCollum, D-Minn., who co-sponsored the legislation, called the restoration “a significant step” toward addressing historic injustices. The chair of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Faron Jackson Sr., said there is more to do. Jackson said the band’s trust lands were reduced over time to 5 percent of the original reservation, which was created between 1855 to 1874 The restored land is in the Chippewa National Forest in Cass County. The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Tina Smith, D-Minn.
